In this series, we ask each of the five subjects from Our Star Wars Stories, five questions about what it means to be a Star Wars super fan!

Up next we spoke with Robin Bocra, Podiatrist, vintage Star Wars collector and science fiction fanatic!

Enjoy!

“No matter how hard you try, there’s always something else that comes out from the woodwork that was made and those vintage pieces are cherished more now than ever.”

~Robin Bocra

What’s the one piece of advice you might give a young or aspiring collector in today’s market?

One piece of advice I would give a young or aspiring collector in the market is to join some Facebook pages for collecting. The people that run these pages really try to help and answer questions for the newbies. The Imperial Commissary and Echo Base USA are wonderful pages for new collectors who are starting to learn. All the members guide and help each other there so I think that would be a wonderful place to start. Items that come for sale are monitored and prices are usually quite fair and if they have any questions you can post them, and people will answer them.

What’s the one piece of Star Wars collecting advice you would give yourself if could go back in time?

The one piece of collecting advice I would give myself, if I could go back in time, would be to buy everything “sealed”. I used to buy mostly mint items with the seal open, so I could look at it and then put it back after I admired the toy. Now I find that I am paying a premium to buy one that is 100% sealed or perhaps sealed and graded. That’s a tough and expensive thing. So that’s what I would do!

Do you own any non-vintage Star Wars collectibles?

Yes! I love G.I. Joe’s and I love the Kenner line of Raiders of the Lost Ark toys! The G.I. Joe’s articulate so nicely, and they are quite distinct with weapons-accessories and little ‘personalities’ that I wish I would’ve started collecting these when I was a kid. They are super cool.

I also really admire all the Indiana Jones pieces even though they were just a few in number. They really were beautifully made and well thought out and I’m happy to have them in my collection.

Is there such a thing as too big of a collection?

Well, I guess you would have to ask Stephen Sansweet (Rancho Obi-Wan) that question. He’s been collecting one of everything for decades now, from all over the world, and has amassed the most incredible museum of toys in California. So, I would have to say no, never too big.

It really is amazing how many things span the globe that were made by countries, whether they were bootlegs or officially licensed, that you could almost never collect it all. No matter how hard you try, there’s always something else that comes out from the woodwork that was made, and those vintage pieces are cherished more than ever now. I’ve been trying to collect a wide assortment of items from every country I can just because I love the writing and the artwork. I love how they are so different from each other in the way that they were made. It’s a lot of fun!

I know you're a huge fan of science fiction, what's your favorite sci-fi film, book or show outside of Star Wars?

Well believe it or not, I’m going to take a little bit of leeway with this answer as it’s not science fiction, it’s more fantasy. The Fellowship of the Ring from The Lord of the Rings trilogy is to me, a perfect film. All three of The Lord of the Rings films are extremely magical to me, but the first one especially touches my heart. I can watch that film over and over and have no problem picking it up wherever it starts when it’s on television.

Bonus question…what’s your favorite film and character?

I would say The Empire Strikes Back is my favorite film and Luke Skywalker is my favorite character. It really is about Luke’s journey through the whole series and he’s the hero that we look to throughout the films. His power and influence were strong enough to return Darth Vader to the light side of the Force and return balance once again. So, Luke is awesome to me.

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